Drinking and Thinking

[MajestyJo]

DAILY OM 2009

Releasing Negativity
Pity Party

We all have days when the bad things seem to outweigh the good ones and we begin to think that life isn’t fair. You get stuck in traffic, which makes you late for an important meeting, and then your car gets towed. You might ask yourself, “Why me?” Events like this one can test anyone’s ability to be grateful and feel optimistic. If you have a tendency to feel sorry for yourself, and many of us do, things usually progress to the next stage: the pity party. You begin to feel like the innocent victim of a dismal fate because you are seeing your life through inaccurate lenses. Most of the thoughts that run through your mind at times like these are not helpful, and they mainly serve to increase your indignation and feelings of powerlessness. What these feelings and thoughts don’t do is change your circumstances or make you feel better.

When you have a terrible day, there should definitely be a time and place to have your feelings so you can process them. It’s important not to pretend that you are fine with things when you aren’t. It’s also important, however, to notice when you’re having a pity party. It’s a good idea to set a time limit in which to fully express your emotions and not feel guilty, ashamed, or judge yourself. Having a friend witness you during this process can be helpful. You may also want to write about your feelings. When your time is up, let go of the negativity you just expressed. You can declare your intention to your friend. If you’ve written down your feelings, you can burn the piece of paper or throw it in the recycling bin.

Try not to dwell on unpleasant experiences and do everything you can to avoid holding on to negative emotions. When you indulge in self-pity, you only make a bad day worse. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, release the notion that you are a victim, and notice the good that exists in your life.

What do you think?

Remember talking to a guy on the elevator one day and he said, "Why me?" He use to live in another senior complex that I lived in. I responded to him with what my sponsor said to me, he is not program and from all accounts, qualifies for it. She said, "Why not you?" He looked at me shocked, at bit stunned, and then he started to laugh, and said, "You are right, "Why not me."

What makes us think we have right of passage through this life without trials and tribulations, and thing everything should be a free ride and handed to us on a silver platter and just there because we feel it is our due and our right, just because.

I seem to recall the alcoholic mind, and thinking "well I am so hard done by" or it was no thought at all, just rough shod over everything or everyone and just taking with no thought of giving and/or sharing.

The only pity would be "Too bad I drank it all last night and didn't save some for today, but then who does that?"